Lock screen widgets were introduced in Android Jelly Bean 4.2 as a way to interact with your device without having to unlock it. If you guard your phone with a lock screen, it can be annoying to unlock every time you want to check the weather or toggle your wireless.

Disabling the lock screen isn’t always an option. Fortunately, these lock screen widgets will solve that problem once and for all.

As its name suggest, DashClock is a dashboard clock that’s meant to be a replacement for the default Android lock screen clock. When considered on that merit alone, DashClock is already a fantastic widget. The clock is likely prettier than whatever came default on your device, and since the lock screen is probably the most-viewed screen in all of Android, it really makes a difference.

For those of you who mainly use your phone for its intended purpose – actually calling your contacts – the Simple Dialer Widget will be a godsend. Basically, this widget adds the phone keypad and contacts list to your lock screen so that you don’t have to go through the motions of unlocking your device before making a call. It literally puts a dialer on your lock screen.

The dialer comes with three tabs: the keypad, the call log, and the contacts list. Everything you need is available right on the widget. Your Android phone can finally compete with the old-school brick phones and flip phones when it comes to quickly making a phone call.

One thing to keep in mind is that this will allow anyone to pick up your phone and make quick calls, too. Not exactly world-shattering, but still a consideration you’ll want to make.

The Simple RSS Widget displays a real-time list of all the RSS feeds being tracked in the widget’s options. If you have tons of feeds to track, fear not – the widget allows you to easily import subscriptions. The widget is scrollable, resizable, customizable in terms of display, and can handle multiple feeds.

Just to be clear, this is not only a widget but a full-blown app. It has real-time weather updates, notifications, hourly forecasts, home screen widgets, and it can even integrate with DashClock. Be aware that depending on your location the accuracy and precision of weather data may or may not live up to the standards held by other weather apps.

Extended Controls is the only lock screen widget on this list that costs money, but at $0.99 USD it’s extremely cheap and worth every penny. This is one of the best settings apps in all of Google Play. The setup is easy and with one tap you can toggle dozens of different settings. Without doubt, every power user needs to install Extended Controls right away.

As if the long list of settings wasn’t enough, the Extended Controls aesthetics can be customized: custom backgrounds, widget transparency, various icons, various widget sizes, personalized colors and labels, and more.

Conclusion

To be honest, I learned about lock screen widgets not long before writing this article, but I can safely say that they’ve revolutionized my Android experience. The convenience factor of my phone has doubled and I could not be happier. The widgets listed above are immensely useful and everyone would do well to give them a try.

How do you like lock screen widgets? Which ones do you use? Which ones would you recommend? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments!

As my tablet's power button is hard to reach, I lock my android using this tiny app called Go-Sleep [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmailraidenbits.gosleep_iab ]. I'm using the free version, but how can I hack it to unlock the WIDGET ?? Thx

I've recently had the idea and need for the ability to toggle my screen lock on my Android quickly. For example, if I know I'm going to be with people, or in a public place, have the screen lock on, but if I know I'm going to be myself all day, quickly toggle it off. I'm envisioning this function in the form of a widget, which I'd be able to readily access on the home screen.

I didn't see any mention of this ability in any of the highlighted apps in this article, but I was curious if that was something you were knowledgeable about.

Aren't we losing sight of the original purpose of the lock screen? The lock screen purpose is to lock the phone, to turn it mostly unresponsive until the user performs certain actions (gestures, sequence of numbers) unlikely to occur randomly, to avoid activating the phone unintentionally.
Adding functions to the supposedly locked screen not only makes them more readily accessible to the user but readily accessible to accidental activation (stopping music, message sending or accidental dialing). It's turning the lock screen into a home screen.
I prefer to have the clock and nothing else. I can see the weather by looking out of the window, I know what song is playing and I don't need to be reminded of the next appointment until the phone announces it at the time I set.

You have a point. Then again, those who want a "true" lock screen aren't being forced to install any sort of lock screen widget. One of the core philosophies of Android is customization and personalization, so if someone wants a more functional lock screen, I think it's valid.

WidgetLocker is the best, let you use all of your regular homescreen widgets in the lockscreen. And its free if you download the apk from XDA and install manually.
I cant install DashClock (it's seems very nice !) cause i have S3 with android 4.1.2
:(